A framework document mapping out the future of the third-level sector in the State is to be prepared by the Department of Education and the Higher Education Authority.
Preliminary work on the paper - A National Strategy for Higher Education - has begun and submissions will be invited from education partners, business, employers and other interested parties.
Minister for Education Mary Hanafin hopes a final report charting a course forward for the sector will be available within 18 months.
Senior officials from the department and the HEA are working on the document.
Some senior third-level figures would like to see the document explore a range of issues including the possible return of college fees. They would also like to see more debate on how the third-level sector can move to the kind of funding levels enjoyed by top-performing universities in countries such as the US.
But the department would prefer to focus on the immediate challenges facing the sector, particularly the huge projected increase in student numbers over the next decade.
The review is the first examination of the sector since the landmark OECD report four years ago. The report was widely praised but its two main recommendations - the return of college fees and a "quantum leap" in funding for universities - have never been implemented.
The Government and the main Opposition parties oppose the return of college fees, despite huge financial pressure on many colleges.
The department says the new national strategy for higher education will:
outline national ambitions for higher education;
survey the operational environment for higher education and research; analyse the demands likely to be placed on the system and review capacity to meet those demands; and
review the use of resources and identify medium-term resource needs.
Ms Hanafin is hoping that Irish entrepreneurs will become more active in philanthropic support for the third-level sector.